Baek Se-hee, author of 'I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki', dies at 35

Baek Se-hee, the South Korean writer who helped millions confront their own struggles with depression, has died at the age of 35. Her death was confirmed by the Korea Organ Donation Agency, which said Baek’s heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys were donated, saving five lives.

"She wanted to share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope," her younger sister, Baek Da-hee, said in a statement. "Knowing her kind heart that loved so much and could not hate anyone, I hope she can now rest peacefully."

While the cause of her death has not been publicly disclosed, local reports said she was declared brain-dead earlier this week at a hospital in Gyeonggi Province, where she had also been born in 1990.

Baek was best known for her 2018 memoir I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki — a tender, plainspoken account of her therapy sessions while living with dysthymia, a mild but persistent form of depression. The book struck a global chord for the way it acknowledged despair without judgment, and found solace in small pleasures.

Originally written in Korean, the book became a cultural phenomenon, selling over a million copies worldwide and translated into more than 25 languages after its English release by Bloomsbury in 2022.

A sequel, I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, followed in 2019 (translated in 2024), continuing her conversations with her psychiatrist about living meaningfully while navigating recurring sadness.

Born in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Baek studied creative writing and worked at a publishing house before turning to full-time writing. Her decade-long treatment for dysthymia became the emotional blueprint for her work, which often blurred the boundaries between personal essay, therapy transcript, and self-help reflection.

She went on to co-author collections such as No One Will Ever Love You as Much as I Do

(2021) and I Want to Write, I Don’t Want to Write (2022), and published her first short fiction, A Will from Barcelona, earlier this year.

Also Read: Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley dies at 74